ith me for his
companion; and I answered by assuring him I should never be happy again
if he were to go away from me.

We soon settled down into our school-room occupations together. Mr.
Glengelly, who used to come three times in the week, now came daily,
staying for the whole morning, and leaving us always lessons to prepare
for the next day. Aleck and I spent almost the whole of our play-time
down at the Cove; his passionate enjoyment of everything connected with
the sea continuing in full force, whilst two or three times every week
we had walks, rides, or drives with one or both of my parents.

Aleck could ride beautifully, having been accustomed to it at his own
home, and I was delighted to lend him my pony from time to time--more
ready at first, if the truth is to be told, than afterwards. He also
learned to row, though not so quickly nor so easily as I should have
expected; and feathering remained an impossible mystery to him, being,
as he said, more than could be expected from his clumsy fingers.

In this one point--that of being unskilful in the use of his
hands--Aleck was below the mark; in lessons he was far my superior,
being, as I soon found, more than his year ahead of me. But, oddly
enough, as it seemed to me, it was always in matters requiring skilled
fingers that he was anxious to excel. He was never tired of playing at
sailing the "Fair Alice," but would daily, before we launched her,
examine afresh all the different parts of the little vessel, and sigh
over the neatness of their workmanship, and ask himself and myself
whether it were possible he should ever be able to make a ship like it.
Various abortive attempts were to be seen in our play-room--pieces of
wood cut, and shaped, and thrown away in disgust; but as yet he made no
progress towards anything like skill in carpentry. The old play-boat of
mine which I had given, to him afforded very little pleasure: it was not
like a real vessel. Having seen the "Fair Alice," anything that fell
short of it gave him no satisfaction. It added greatly to the pleasure
which I had always felt in this possession, to see how ardently my
cousin admired it, and how much he thought of the title of _captain_,
which, as owner, had been playfully adjudged to me.

I scarcely know when it was that the feeling first began to steal over
me that I was not always quite so glad as I had been at first that my
cousin was living with us. It was an unworthy feeling, and I felt
a